Vandal Savage is one of my favorite characters, and that's almost entirely due to his appearance in the Justice League episode "Hereafter."  It was an episode in which the parts where Toyman kills Superman and there's a funeral for him and Lobo tries to force himself into the Justice League as a replacement... are not the most interesting parts of the episode.  No, Superman has actually been transported into the future!  And despite losing all his powers because of the deyellowification of the Sun's rays, he steals a car, siphons gas into it, grows a beard, fights some future dogs, slays their leader and wears him, and becomes their master.  Oh, and the world's that way because Vandal Savage kind of destroyed it a few days after Superman "died," but since he's immortal he's still around thousands of years later.  And kind of sad and crazy.

(My god, Phil Morris is awesome.  He's even awesome when he's Martian Manhunter on Smallville.  That is how awesome he is.)

And so I've reeeeeally been wanting a Vandal Savage toy, but I had no idea how much I also wanted a Future Beardy Superman toy until I saw that he would exist.  And  yet both of them almost didn't when their wave never reached retail. However, I am more than happy to get them belatedly and at a markup from MattyCollector.com.  "Hereafter" was one of my favorite episodes, and that's saying a lot considering half of it's about friggin' Superman.

They also came with Batman.  You probably don't need photos of him.  They didn't come with stands, but I used some in the photos anyway.  They also didn't come with an Atmosphere Destroying Missile Launcher, but, well, you know how it is.

This is the last year for Mattel's Justice League Unlimited line.

I'm not sure whether that's surprising to hear or not.  The line has long, long, LONG surpassed the lifespan it had any right to have.  On the other hand, it's lasted so long, that it felt like a permanent fixture.  It's like George Burns.  It shouldn't have surprised me to learn that he died, but it did.  (y'know, 15  years ago)  I mean, dude was 100 years ago!  That's borrowed time!  But, well, you got the feeling that he was immortal all the same.  Justice League Unlimited is just like that.  Except, like, George Burns was better at not falling over on his face all the time.

But at least it's not goin' out without giving me what I want!  And what I wanted was a fucking Vandal Savage.  Dude was in three multi-part episodes!  That's technically seven episodes, all around!  That's a lot of episodes to be the villain if you're not Lex Luthor!  That's high profile.  A-list.  Meanwhile, I have a toy of the friggin' Key.  He opened a door once with his giant key prop.  That's it.

You might remind me that Vandal Savage isn't very interesting-looking to kids.  He's a dude with a beard in a suit. And then I will remind you that I once bought a set (AT RETAIL) that had an old balding white man in a suit and an old fat black lady in a suit.  There should not be a world in which we get General Eiling and Amanda Waller but not friggin' Vandal Savage.

But anyway, this is being rectified.  He comes with a normal Batman and a figure that I hadn't even considered the possibility of... bearded future-traveler Superman.  Which is also pretty damn awesome, if you ask me.  David Willis is pleased.

There's some other interesting guys coming out this year before the line ends.  There's Killer Frost, the sorta-obviously-absent STRIPE, Mongul, and most of the rest of the Batman Beyond-era Justice League (including friggin' STATIC, woo!).  And at the end of the year, to close out the line, there's planned to be a huge multi-pack set of guys who haven't been made yet.   Reports seem to imply these are seven heroes.  I don't think I can name more than one who hasn't been made yet, off the top of my head (Phantom Stranger).  Am I forgetting anyone?  I can't remember if I have a Gypsy yet or not.

Most importantly, now that Justice League is definitely coming to a close, I'll finally be able to round up all of my extraneous Batmen and Supermen and see how big a pile they make.